The Water Ethics Network facilitates sharing of experience, ideas, and information about events and activities relating to water ethics. The aim is to bring an awareness of water ethics into the everyday discourse of water policies and management decisions, so that choices about water use and water ecosystem management are consciously informed by values. The network is sponsored by the Water-Culture Institute and the partner organizations listed below.

February 27, 2016

How to Manage Water Under a Changing Climate: Think Ethically!

Water is life - critical for the survival of
humans and ecosystems, and irreplaceable if lost. Climate change, combined with
the effects of agriculture, industry and other ongoing human activities, poses
tremendous risks to the viability of freshwater ecosystems and the sustainability
of our watersheds. Also, climate change impacts are carried out primarily through
the water cycle, affecting the timing, volume and variability of precipitation worldwide,
causing drying of some regions, while increasing flood risks in others. Water
is therefore absolutely key for both climate change mitigation and adaptation
efforts.

More importantly, however, managing water
under a changing climate requires an ethical approach, because water is
enmeshed in many normative aspects of human and ecosystem life. Water
governance is a profoundly ethical problem on many levels. Making choices about
water allocation, for instance, often involves balancing the needs of
agriculture, industry, households and ecosystems. These choices also involve trade-offs
between the needs and values of present generations versus future generations, between
developed and developing countries, and between present and future ecosystems
and non-human species.

Apart from water specifically, action on
climate change in general also requires that we confront a number of important
ethical challenges, including fairness and responsibility to mitigate and adapt
among individuals, nations, generations and the Earth itself (see Gardiner, 2012). To date, these questions, however, have not been sufficiently
addressed, and we continue to lack the decision tools to deal with inter-generational,
intra-generation and environmental ethics. Developing such tools, and
addressing these questions, is an urgent priority for navigating our future in
a changing climate.

For instance, by
calling for basin-scale water management, the Pact would rewrite the ways in
which we manage water – a process that will inevitably generate political and
ethical conundrums. How will we reconcile different economic, cultural,
spiritual and ecological values across the various communities in a basin? What
mechanisms will be used to resolve conflicts, especially in places where water resources
are relatively scarce? The Pact aims to increase water availability through
efficiency and demand management – but for what purpose and for whom? Whose
values will be prioritized in this process?

The bold outcome of the 2015 climate
agreement is a big step in the right direction. However, beyond agreeing on the
ambitious target of staying “well below 2 degrees Celsius”, successful climate
action depends on our ability to figure out how to meet the goals and needs of
ever-growing human populations in increasingly stressed watersheds while
reducing emissions.

Ethics provides important analytical and
decision tools that can help figure out how to meet our dual obligation to
humans and to ecosystems to ensure that our precious water flows are preserved.
By protecting the health of our watersheds, we protect ecosystems, landscapes, and
species, at present and in the future. As climate change increasingly affects
Earth systems, we need to think not only about water for humans, but also about
water for the ecosystems that support life on Earth. To achieve our bold
climate target in just and sustainable ways, we must finally start tackling the
ethical dilemmas that climate change poses.

Acknowledgements: many thanks to Rom Bolliger and David Groenfeldt for the feedback on this post.